The woods and by-ways of New England . tered groups on a. wide plain,without the interference of art, it surpasses every otherdescription of wood-scenery. An assemblage of trees on ahillside is called a hanging wood, because it seems tooverhang the valley beneath it. Thus situated it formsoppositions of a very striking sort, by lifting its summitsinto the sunshine while it deepens the shadows thatrest upon the valley. Wood on steep declivities is aninteresting sight, especially if an occasional opening re-veals to us the precipitous character of the ground, andshows the difficulties which the
The woods and by-ways of New England . tered groups on a. wide plain,without the interference of art, it surpasses every otherdescription of wood-scenery. An assemblage of trees on ahillside is called a hanging wood, because it seems tooverhang the valley beneath it. Thus situated it formsoppositions of a very striking sort, by lifting its summitsinto the sunshine while it deepens the shadows thatrest upon the valley. Wood on steep declivities is aninteresting sight, especially if an occasional opening re-veals to us the precipitous character of the ground, andshows the difficulties which the trees have overcome intheir struggle for life. Some of our pleasure comes fromthe evident utility of such a wood. We see at oncethat a rocky steep could not be occupied by any othervegetation, except under the protection of the trees, andthat trees alone could resist the force of occasional tor-rents ; that without them the ground would be barren,ugly, and profitless, and difficult and dangerous to thosewho should attempt to climb THE WHITE OAK AND OTHEE SPECIES. The most important, though not the largest, of theAmerican trees of the Oak family, and the one that ismost like the English tree, is the American White puts forth its branches at a comparatively small height,not in a horizontal direction, like the white pine, but ex-tending to great length with many a crook, and present-ing the same knotted and gnarled appearance for whichthe English oak is celebrated. Individual trees of thisspecies differ so widely in their ramification that it wouldbe difficult to select any one as the true type. Someare without a central shaft, being subdivided at a smallheight into numerous large branches, diverging at rathera wide angle from a common point of junction, like theelm. Others send up their trunk nearly straight to thevery summit of the tree, giving out lateral branches fromall points almost horizontally. There is a third formthat seems to have no central shaft, because i
Size: 1303px × 1918px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorflaggwil, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1872
